Sandstone towers are silhouetted against a woody slope; in the Kinzig valley lies a castle, built on a foundation of 10,000 wooden pilings, where once Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa promenaded; in the heart of the town, the visitor is surrounded by timber-framed houses in which the beams all intersect at odd angles; the maze of tiny streets, which surprise with glimpses towards the green meadows of the Kinzig valley; and above all rises the Cathedral “Marienkirche,” where Romanesque groundedness and high-flying gothic elements are blended in a unique way.

Each step through the center of Gelnhausen brings you to another scene crowded with history. If you are there when a market is being held in the Obermarkt or Untermarkt, you’ll find nothing to prove you hadn’t travelled back to the time of Barbarossa.

Gelnhausen was founded by Emperor Friedrich I as a free imperial city around 1170. It bloomed for about 150 years because it was located at the intersection of major tradeways, such as the one from Frankfurt to Leipzig. Subsequently, Gelnhausen was given in mortgage to various lords. It was plundered and destroyed during the Thirty Years’ war and nearly depopulated. But it rose again in 19th century, survived the World Wars intact, and today presents itself, splendidly refurbished.

Born in Gelnhausen, I lived there until I graduated from high school. Today, it still feels to me as if Gelnhausen’s historic buildings hold countless stories about how people lived there 800 years ago. My favourite remembrances are connected to Gelnhausen Forest, the edge of which faced the backdoor of my parent’s house. With its views toward the Kinzig meadows, slopes covered with crushed rock, terraces and quarries, with its dusky pine forest and pale birch trees, its meadows and springs, it ever invited me to my childhood games of adventure and explorations of discovery.

Although I did not use Gelnhausen’s actual, magnificent buildings as scenery in Cloud Keepers, the historical heritage of the city and its vicinity has fired my imagination ever since the days of my youth, leading me to choose a medieval setting for my novel.

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(Photos: © Otfried Zipf and kristinfalck.de)